Suppliers and retailers in the newsvendor setting need to submit their pricing and inventory decisions respectively, well before actual customer demand is realized. In the literature they have both been typically considered as perfectly rational optimizers, exclusively interested in their own respective benefits. Under the above set of conditions the wholesale price-only contract has long been analytically proven as inefficient.

The awareness of the greenhousegas effect and rising energy prices lead to initiatives to improve energy efficiency. These initiatives range from micro-generation, energy storage and efficient appliances to controllers with optimization objectives. Although these technologies are promising, their introduction may rise further questions. The implementation of such initiatives may have a severe impact on the electricity infrastructure. If several of these initiatives are introduced in a combined way, it is difficult to analyse their overall impact.

In the highly dynamic, competitive and complex market environments (such as telecom, insurance, leasing, health, etc) the consumer’s choice essentially depends on a number of individual characteristics, inherent dynamics of the consumer, network of contacts and interactions, and external influences that may be best captured within the Agent Based modeling paradigm. The Agent Based modeling is especially advantageous in the consumer market domain as it allows to leverage the full amount of individual-centric data from the CRM (Customer Relationships Management) systems highly available these days. Although there are no universal straightforward instructions for building Agent Based models, there are certain common steps and patterns. The goal of this paper is to introduce the patterns in consumer market modeling most frequently met in our consulting practice. The modeling language of AnyLogic is used throughout the paper

The retail sector has been identified as one of the biggest contributors to the productivity gap that persists between the UK, Europe and the USA. It is well documented that measures of UK retail productivity rank lower than those of countries with comparably developed economies. Intuitively, it seems likely that management practices are linked to a company’s productivity and performance. Significant research has been done to investigate the productivity gap and identify problems involved in estimating the size of the gap; for example the comparability of productivity indices, historical influences, general measurement issues, and varying sectoral contributions. Best practice guidelines have been developed and published, but there remains considerable inconsistency and uncertainty regarding how these are implemented and manifested at the level of the work place. Indeed, a recent report on UK productivity asserted that, “... the key to productivity remains what happens inside the firm and this is something of a ‘black box’”. Siebers and colleagues conducted a comprehensive literature review of this research area to assess linkages between management practices and firm level productivity. The authors concluded that management practices are multidimensional constructs that generally do not demonstrate a straightforward relationship with productivity variables. Empirical evidence affirms that management practices must be context specific to be effective, and in turn productivity indices must also reflect a particular organization’s activities on a local level to be a valid indicator of performance